Endoscopes of this kind, configured as rigid endoscopes whose distal point is configured at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the shaft, are used, for instance, as sinuscopes for examining paranasal cavities and sinuses. The distal angle of the instrumental shaft is determined by the particular medical application.
The disadvantage of endoscopes of this type known from the art with angled distal shaft point is that they cannot be autoclaved for cleaning purposes, either because, at conditions of sufficient image size and image quality of the images produced by the image guide, high temperatures can cause breakage of the image guide, or else in the use of flexible image guides or image guides of small diameter, such endoscopes can in fact be autoclaved but leave something to be desired with respect to the image size and/or image quality.
It is consequently the object of the invention to create an endoscope of the aforementioned type so that with sufficient image size and image quality of the image transmission system it can be autoclaved for cleaning purposes.